The Music Video To Tamil Rap Song “Muttazhagi” Has Caused Quite A Stir

When it comes to the Malaysian Tamil music industry, not many pay attention – not even local Indians.

Krishna Kumar Lechmana (better known as Psychomantra) is a well-known rapper to the local Indian community. However, rapping isn’t the only thing he does: he’s also a lyricist, producer, composer and a sound engineer on CultureShock Records. In fact, the multi-talented Psychomantra founded the record label too!

Psychomantra’s music is receiving a bit of attention at the moment – just not in a good way. Recent release with Reggaeron, “Muttazhagi” (Beautiful Pearl), is generating a lot of heat but all this is mainly due to its music video.

The lyric video released two months ago had many fans. Sadly, the official video – released on the 30th of June – wasn’t exactly what one would call a success.

It provoked such strong reaction that comments on Youtube were later disabled. Luckily though, we have the internet as well as a few good samaritans who kept a back-up of the entire debacle.

So what’s the issue here?

Judging from what we’ve seen on the internet, the main problem wasn’t the song. In fact, the focus wasn’t even on main attraction Anita Permata Sari but rather the other three side chicks.

The negativity started when the supporting dancers – Aishu, Rynsha and Harinie – made a video about themselves being discriminated by viewers.

They recorded this video near a longkang behind a Tenaga National Berhad substation. Those who understand Tamil would be able to understand the video, but let us help others a little by roughly translating what these girls are saying.

Aishu: Your comments were rude and they’re bringing us down. The Indian society in Malaysia are typical.

(Aishu also questioned why viewers say things like ‘hot’ and ‘pretty’ when it comes to international stars Trisha and Shruti Hassan.)

Ryshna: We hope that people can support the music video as it is going international.

Harinie: Why are other races not discriminated when they wear the sort of clothes we wear?

Were these girls ready for their impact?

This particular video we’ve been talking about went so viral that even teachers and mothers commented on it; this was the subject of daily conversation.

At the end of the day, many things were said about “Muttazhagi”.

Some disagreed with the logic of accepting payment to wear ‘inappropriate’ clothing. Others thought the three girls lacked talent and many believed they should stop comparing themselves with more talented acts.

Audiences seemed more focused on how these models should go and get a proper education before getting into a venture like this, and also compared their outfits to international artistes.

Most believe that Aishu, Ryshna and Harinie should have learned to accept negative comments better and used them constructively, arguing that by disabling comments for the video they appear bitter.

From left to right: Rynsha, Harinie, Reggaeron, Anita, and Aishu. Photo obtained from Facebook.

People also claim the longkang video wasn’t much of an issue: the problem lies in the fact that the models looked painfully weary and lacked spirit in the final music video.

Another interesting thing we noted: they’ve chosen to go ahead and display the Malaysian flag in the video. Although some thought this was bizarre, we think Psychomantra’s patriotism should be applauded! Now if only this was popular for the right reasons.

Our verdict?

We love “Muttazhagi”, we really do. But like the rest of the virtual sphere, unfortunately we too have strong opinions on the music video.

First of all, cars, clubs and chicks. Really? This is just your painfully typical rapper video when you could have done so much more, Reggaeron ft. Psychomantra. This might be your big break and you’ve gone ahead and done a diet version of early millennium Sean Paul.

Secondly, yes, Anita Permata Sari lists belly-dancing as one of her many skills but maybe the team could have given her some choreography instead as she can look quite unfocused at times. The same goes for the other three models. Let’s be honest: belly-dancing takes years of practice and these women aren’t doing the artform any real justice.

There was a lack of creativity in the entire thing which makes it into one giant cliche. Such a great song deserves a much better treatment; everyone could have done waaaay better.

In a nutshell, The Daily Seni greatly appreciates the effort everyone has put into the project, even if we do think they could have done a whole lot better. Furthermore, we believe as members of the creative industry we should be ready for all kinds of feedback and learn to take things constructively.